The Republican war on Republicans

posted at 12:31 pm on January 13, 2013 by Jazz Shaw

The endless navel gazing following significant GOP losses in the last election is far from over, and not all of it is pointless. We have people talking about significant policy changes in the platform to make the Republican brand more salable in national races, as well as ideas geared toward expanding the tent and bringing in a more diverse voter base. But Scott Rasmussen has a new editorial out this week where he believes he’s identified another issue to be tackled. There are, as he states rather directly, a number of “establishment GOP” types in D.C. who seem to have determined that the big problem with the Republican Party is all of those Republican voters.

Politico explained that while Washington Democrats have always viewed GOP voters as a problem, Washington Republicans “in many a post-election soul-searching session” have come to agree. More precisely, the article said the party’s Election 2012 failures have “brought forth one principal conclusion from establishment Republicans: They have a primary problem.”

As seen from the halls of power, the problem is that Republican voters think it’s OK to replace incumbent senators and congressman who don’t represent the views of their constituents. In 2012, for example, Republican voters in Indiana dumped longtime Sen. Richard Lugar in a primary battle.

This infuriated establishment Republicans for two reasons. First, because they liked Lugar and the way he worked. Second, because the replacement candidate was flawed and allowed Democrats to win what should have been a safe Republican seat.

Scott goes on to say that observers are noticing a growing inclination in beltway GOP power centers to circle the wagons and make it harder for the unwashed masses to mount primary challenges to their media tested selections and proven winners. And I agree with his assessment that this is a fine strategy if your only concern is winning. But at what cost?

Before we get too carried away, let’s not throw the whole “winning” baby out with the bathwater here. If you don’t win, you don’t get to govern. But if your base feels that you’ve lost sight of your principles in the effort to win, they won’t turn out for you and the process becomes a self-defeating death spiral. By the same token, as difficult as it may be for some folks to accept, it is undeniable that the professional political class – or “the elite” as so many of you like to say – bring some important skills to the table.

Chief among these is the mountain of background research, tools, resources and experience required to conduct extensive vetting of new entrants to the political ring. While a rising red tide of grassroots enthusiasm for a new face is not only useful, but vital to a big win, the excitable hoi polloi are also frequently lacking in the ability to sort the wheat from the chaff. Critics like to point to some of the really high profile losers such as Christine O’Donnell whenever this discussion comes up, but it happens at lower levels all across the nation.

In a race which went virtually unreported, the newly redrawn NY-22 district saw a Tea Party challenge in the 2012 primary to a GOP incumbent who was viewed as being too far to the left. The challenger they selected was a local Tea Party leader who turned out to be an unemployed guy who had failed to even be elected mayor in his home village and had supposedly lost an earlier business he started for not paying his taxes. In this case it turned out that the incumbent went on to win the primary in a landslide and then beat the Democrat by a similar margin. But what if he hadn’t? A seat in a reliably Republican leaning district could have once again been lost and gone to a flunky of the previous Democratic incumbent once all the news came fully to light during the general election race.

That’s just one cautionary tale among many. So how does this relate to the point that Rasmussen is making? He offers hints of a solution which should be worth a look.

Mature party leaders would spend a lot more time listening to Republican voters rather than further insulating themselves from those voters. They would try to understand why just 37 percent of Republicans nationwide believe the economy is fair. They would give serious thought to why just half of GOP voters have a favorable opinion of House Speaker John Boehner, the highest-ranking elected Republican in the nation. They would acknowledge that government spending in America has gone up in every year since 1954 regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in charge.

Then mature party leaders would chart a realistic course to address these concerns and share those plans with the voters. To succeed, this course would have to include some painful medicine for the establishment, such as giving up corporate welfare programs that benefit their friends and allies. It also would require helping Republican voters identify primary candidates who challenge the establishment but could be effective on the campaign trail.

Tying these points together, D.C. Republican leaders can still hold on to their power and influence if they listen to those they are ostensibly leading and then use the tools at their disposal to work with grass roots activists rather than against them. If the voters are unhappy with an incumbent, fine. Don’t just fight them by backing the incumbent with unlimited money and then act sullen toward the challenger if they win. The better course is to get to work vetting the potential choices being put forth by the grass roots, pointing out lethal flaws if they exist and helping them identify challengers who are both ideologically palatable to the base and electable in the general race. It means not simply tamping down the impulse to keep fighting to the death for the status quo, but also demonstrating the strength to stand up to activists who are making untenable choices and saying, “Look, we hear you. But that’s not going to work. Let’s find someone who will.”

Blowback

Trackbacks/Pings

Comments

Angelo Codavilla’s essay in AmSpec and later book nailed it. We really have two parties here, the Ruling Party and the Country Party, not the Dems and GOP.

The Ruling Party tells its respectrive sheeple what it thinks will get the sheeple to vote for the Ruling Party. The Ruling Party, regardless of party affiliation, lives in the same neighborhoods, sends its kids to the same private schools and Ivy League colleges, and go through the revolving door of government to lobbying and think tanks. They have no real philosophy except that they think of themselves as entitled to lead the sheeple.

Although O’Donnell was an poor candidate in DE, she did reveal how this works. The RP in DE takes turns with the three congressional seats. It was Mike Castle’s “turn” to be a senator. Then he would retire and Beau Biden would run. The opposition in an election would be no-name (O’Donnell ran aginst Biden in 2006), or a junior RP who needed name recognition. (Coons was the 2010 Dem pick for name recognition.) But the Tea Party upset this. Castle did not get his turn, Coons jumped the queue, and Beau Biden will have to wait until Carper retires to get his “turn.” Hence Castle’s, Rove’s and the DE GOP’s fury

I take my vote and go home; they are out of office. I win, you lose politicians! These idiots forgot a long time ago that they are only in power by the good graces of the American voter. Good luck getting the “inconsistent squishy middle” or the “extinct blue dog dem” to support you guys..

I believe what I believe. I won’t throw out a lifetime of study and experience and start pretending to advocate things I don’t believe in just so some Republicans can get elected.

It wouldn’t work anyway, you can’t just turn on a dime and be considered a credible person. We all trash flip-floppers but now Republicans want to flip-flop the entire party? Why vote for Democrat lite when the real thing is on the ballot? This is all stupid.

And then of course Conservatives will decide if they’re going to stay home, again.

If the GOP wants to win a presidential election ever again some conservative spine is a requirement.

Speakup on January 13, 2013 at 12:37

I agree, however, we know the GOP Establishment is not conservative,and just like Romney, can’t fake it. Having freshman conservatives will take too long to have any power or say. Lesgislation is done behind closed doors now by the leadership, and the members are told how to vote without knowing what it is they are voting for. Conservatives should change their status to unaffiliated and not vote in national elections.

If you don’t win, you don’t get to govern. But if your base feels that you’ve lost sight of your principles in the effort to win, they won’t turn out for you and the process becomes a self-defeating death spiral.

Because all of this make you sound like a combination of “Establishment Moron” and “low-info douchebag”:

the professional political class – or “the elite” as so many of you like to say – bring some important skills to the table.

the excitable hoi polloi are also frequently lacking in the ability to sort the wheat from the chaff.

I believe what I believe. I won’t throw out a lifetime of study and experience and start pretending to advocate things I don’t believe in just so some Republicans can get elected.

Why vote for Democrat lite when the real thing is on the ballot? This is all stupid.

echosyst on January 13, 2013 at 12:43 PM

echosyst on January 13, 2013 at 12:43 PM

Amen. Ay-freaking-men. This was 2012 in a nutshell. No I will not, I cannot, abandon half my beliefs outright and put another 1/4th on the back burner to knowingly vote for a redwashed liberal in order to supposedly oust a worse liberal.

The GOP establishment is no longer interested in winning Republican, conservative and independent votes – the GOP establishment is %100 focused on trying to win democrat and liberal votes, and this is why the GOP is failing. We need look no further than the GOP’s favorite progressive/liberal 2016 possibles – Rubio, Christie and Jeb Bush – to see what direction the party has taken, and why the GOP’s future is more in question than ever.

While a rising red tide of grassroots enthusiasm for a new face is not only useful, but vital to a big win, the excitable hoi polloi are also frequently lacking in the ability to sort the wheat from the chaff. Critics like to point to some of the really high profile losers such as Christine O’Donnell whenever this discussion comes up, but it happens at lower levels all across the nation.

I never thought O’Donnell could win. I supported her because she wasn’t Mike Castle, for whom a “win” would have meant electing a progressive with an ‘R’ by his name which in my estimation is worse than losing because now every stupid progressive policy Castle supported or would support would become “bi-partisan.” This is why a lot of us refused to support Romney and aren’t really all that broken up that the “numbers guy” who couldn’t read a poll, and who had no regional or ideological base within his own party, went on to experience a level of humiliation unprecedented in our electoral era. Similarly I would rather a massive and flabby Democrat butt warm Lugar’s seat than Lugar himself. Either way, Lugar or someone else, we don’t get to govern, but we do have at least the chance that at some point the party in the form of its professional establishment will wake up from its fevered dream of wanting to be just like the Democrats if they are forced to swallow defeat after defeat, or the election of candidates that they don’t like because of their “extremism” or something.

If we cannot elect conservatives, then let the Democrats have their way. I would prefer this outcome to the Democrats having their way anyway only now they would get to call it “bi-partisan.”

Reagan was the last Republican that knew how to govern. When they had the house and senate they decided it was time to get theirs and they behaved like pigs at the trough. Bush I raised taxes and lost. If not for 9/11 Bush II would have been a one term failure, but became a two term failure not vetoing a single bill. This conservative is done with these jokers and will wait for candidates that stand for something besides themselves.

Romney was the Pubs’ last chance to keep what little loyalty remained. He was a soft touch with Oligula, doing little as possible to upset the apple cart. I won’t be voting Republican again, and it doesn’t need saying I will never vote Democrat. They’re basically one party now.

A lot can happen in two years–time to consider which of the various Conservative parties’ candidates I might be voting for.

… growing inclination in beltway GOP power centers to circle the wagons and make it harder for the unwashed masses to mount primary challenges to their media tested selections and proven winners

Tired of subsidizing a permanent underclass. Tired of an utterly corrupt military appropriations process. Tired of quid pro quo pork. Tired of the insider trading. Tired of the war profiteering. Tired of the Waters, Byrds, Boehners, Clintons, Leahys, Grahams, McCains, Kennedys et al. thinking they are a “ruling class”. The kindest thought I have for them is to see them out of office, broke, and living in rags on the street.

Tired of the way we vote? How about trying our bullets images of our ballots.

Yes, at the elite level, only the GOP has become 2 parties, and I support the one composed mainly of governors who are slashing taxes, state legislators who are advancing right to work legislation, and the newer cadres of GOP house Republicans elected through Tea Party or Club for Growth activism, and that Rand Paul guy who behaves remarkably like he has a spine. I will vote for that party.

On the other hand the Rove-Boehner-Mitchell-Romney GOP can go hang itself.

One problem is that when RINOs lose primaries (Lugar, Castle), they refuse to endorse or campaign for the conservative winner, but when a conservative loses the primary, he gets lectures on “party unity,” etc.

Yes, at the elite level, only the GOP has become 2 parties, and I support the one composed mainly of governors who are slashing taxes, state legislators who are advancing right to work legislation, and the newer cadres of GOP house Republicans elected through Tea Party or Club for Growth activism, and that Rand Paul guy who behaves remarkably like he has a spine. I will vote for that party.

On the other hand the Rove-Boehner-Mitchell-Romney GOP can go hang itself.

These swine are just the right wing of the Political Class. They have collaborated in the insane spending that has resulted in $16 TRILLION in national debt, $50,000 for every single citizen. They have happily slopped at the taxpayer trough whenever they could elbow the Democrats aside.

Nothing will change until the current Republican leadership is pushed aside. It will take some doing.

Pub party has never been conservative except in lip service to get conservative votes. The party has contributed to the defcit and big government almost as much as Dems. Bush spent like a drunken Secret Service agent making a deal with a Columbian ho. I will NEVER vote for or contribute one cent or one second of my time to/for another Republican as long as I live.

They would acknowledge that government spending in America has gone up in every year since 1954 regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in charge.

By the same token, as difficult as it may be for some folks to accept, it is undeniable that the professional political class – or “the elite” as so many of you like to say – bring some important skills to the table.

Apparently, those skills are losing, or, alternatively, a**-raping the public.

Well, I changed my affiliation to Independent/Unaffiliated. I will probably be accused of coping out but I would rather take my football home with me than let the bullies tear it up. If enough of us leave, they will need to adjust. And if a viable third party can get enough votes, maybe there will need to be some kind of “arrangement” made in the halls of Congress.

The Republican Party has one, and only one, chance at survival. Embrace the TEA Party! Get over it!

The so-called “Professionals” like Rove have no idea what the problem is. They only want to be the next drivers of the existing machinery, but they can’t get their heads around the notion that the machine itself is fatally broken.
These fools are arguing over who gets to be the next captain of the Titanic, while the “hoi polloi” in steerage are screaming about the iceberg ahead.

. . . . . only the GOP has become 2 parties, and I support the one composed mainly of governors who are slashing taxes, state legislators who are advancing right to work legislation, and the newer cadres of GOP house Republicans elected through Tea Party or Club for Growth activism, and that Rand Paul guy who behaves remarkably like he has a spine. I will vote for that party.

On the other hand the Rove-Boehner-Mitchell-Romney GOP can go hang itself.

One problem is that while the party ‘pros’ can identify the worst losers beforehand, the ones they’ve approved haven’t been all that great, either. I mean, Dole? McCain?

Jazz confuses the idea that TP candidates can be more awful than regular GOP ones with the idea that TP candidates can’t be better than regular GOP ones. The 2010 results argue that this may not be so.

I never thought O’Donnell could win. I supported her because she wasn’t Mike Castle, for whom a “win” would have meant electing a progressive with an ‘R’ by his name which in my estimation is worse than losing because now every stupid progressive policy Castle supported or would support would become “bi-partisan.”

Out of touch. I’d rather have an honest citizen who shares my values representing me than a vetted weasel whose only concern is earning enough favors to get re-elected.

Come and take it on January 13, 2013 at 12:50 PM

Hear hear. As is often said, we’d get better more representative govt drawing names randomly from the phone book.
What is needed is a targeted campaign to unseat our aristocracy – senators and representatives with more than a dozen years in office. CHOP LOOSE that dead weight before it drags the ship of state under. With a secondary campaign to cull those whose adult employment has been solely in political office. Kill the political class in america. Put them out. America was supposed to be about citizen-statesman, with political office a part time job, a service, and not a pathway to wealth and lifetime employment.
Just look at all the cretinous demagogues holding office today, 30yrs+ in office. Nothing will improve until these creatures are ousted.

This illustrates why the establishment Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same coin. When the Repubs controlled both houses they spent like drunken Democrats. Career politicians simply want to stay at the money trough even though they, themselves are emptying it at a record pace, they cannot pull away. Term limits would go a long way to fix this – which is why they will never vote for them.

IIRC, Ted Cruz and Deb Schneider were also not establishment picks, but they were electable, too.

Wethal on January 13, 2013 at 1:18 PM

This whole ‘who is electable” crap is bullshit. Anyone can be painted as a goofball if the individuals doing the painting don’t have any morals or ethics. What is truly difficult is learning to accept that you have been indoctrinated and manipulated by media propaganda. You cannot solve any problem that you cannot admit exists.

Playing to win is one thing, forsaking any and all morals and ethics to achieve that victory is another thing altogether. Understanding that it is possible to play to win, without sacrificing ones morals and ethics is difficult when you have been indoctrinated your entire life to believe that only the utterly ruthless and amoral win.

Tragically while being able to see and accept that there is a problem is absolutely required to solve any problem, finding the actual solution isn’t as easy as identifying the problem. Getting others to accept the solution is often even more difficult than getting them to admit that there is a problem in the first place.

The GOP has a fatal problem, both the base and the leadership. the leaderships problem is that they are entrenched professional politicians who have no morals or ethics, only the profound need to retain power at any cost.

The bases problem is… That they live in denial of the fact that the Fifth Column Treasonous Media has indoctrinated them with Marxist propaganda and continues to do so every single day.

Obama won in 2012 by just under 4 million votes, out of 120 million cast, 2.8 percent. Obama didn’t win because he energized more Democrat voters, but because the Fifth Column Treasonous Media demoralized the Republican base, split them into irreconcilable factions turned them into a bunch of butt hurt petty children who were unable and unwilling to put aside their personal differences to remove Barack Obama from office.

The GOP leadership attacked those of the TEA Parties candidates that they recognized as the weakest candidates, those candidates lost not because they were crazies or goofballs that were unelectable, but because the GOP Leadership was willing to sacrifice GOP wins to retain control of the GOP.

Before we get too carried away, let’s not throw the whole “winning” baby out with the bathwater here. If you don’t win, you don’t get to govern. But if your base feels that you’ve lost sight of your principles in the effort to win, they won’t turn out for you and the process becomes a self-defeating death spiral.

TADA! And Jazz gets a gold-star for recognizing something that has completely eluded the punditocracy and Congressional Republicans. To be more specific, without ideological compatibility, we don’t want to win. Let the Democrats win.

That’s a major point that the establishment doesn’t seem to comprehend. Conservatism comes before electability. Period. If they’re “electable” but utter backstabbers, we have no interest in them.

The GOP needs to get back to their conservative roots and conservatives need to stop nominating morons like Aiken and Angle. And damn all of u cons that sat the election out and gave us the nightmare that is the Obama presidency.

Yet – when the Tea Party called me up the other day to ask for $$ I told them “no”.

I will not give any money to any organization that supports the evil Republican Establishment. The Tea Party was a great movement and the Establishment killed it. It’s time for the Tea Party to flip a big middle finger at the GOP and go their own way.

And no – don’t call it a “third party” if all you conservatives left the GOP – the GOP would die off faster than the dinosaurs did.

Politico explained that while Washington Democrats have always viewed GOP voters as a problem, Washington Republicans “in many a post-election soul-searching session” have come to agree. More precisely, the article said the party’s Election 2012 failures have “brought forth one principal conclusion from establishment Republicans: They have a primary problem.”

Karl Rove and his big bucks buddies have decided that the ordinary American just can’t be trusted to pick their own leaders. Now isn’t that just special?
Somewhere in the back of his consciousness, the average American knows that this country needs a drastic course change if we’re going to avoid having the guts torn out of this ship of state by the corruption that’s ruling the Great Imperial City on the Potomac. We have long since run out of other peoples’ money but Karl and the boys just can’t stop printing it up and doling it out.
Karl and his buddies remind me of a professional bus driver…he doesn’t care where the bus is going, he just demands to drive it.

By the same token, as difficult as it may be for some folks to accept, it is undeniable that the professional political class – or “the elite” as so many of you like to say – bring some important skills to the table.

Chief among these is the mountain of background research, tools, resources and experience required to conduct extensive vetting of new entrants to the political ring. While a rising red tide of grassroots enthusiasm for a new face is not only useful, but vital to a big win, the excitable hoi polloi are also frequently lacking in the ability to sort the wheat from the chaff. Critics like to point to some of the really high profile losers such as Christine O’Donnell whenever this discussion comes up, but it happens at lower levels all across the nation.

And where was that ability with Romney? He was despised by the base for his past liberal record (abortion, gay marriage, guns, Romneycare, etc). He had flip-flopped on every important issue, only highlighting his insincerity. He had the background of the vulture capitalist, in a time when investor and financial service reps are widely despised for taking bailout money (as well as financing efforts to legalize gay marriage and other efforts). He couldn’t stop making stupid comments, from liking being able to fire people, to not caring about the very poor, to the 47 percent. And then there are the other stupid utterances, like loving the lakes or thinking all the trees are the right height.

If these people are so skilled, what the heck were they thinking in pushing Charlie Crist, who is the slimiest opportunist you’ll ever meet? And finally, if these people are so skilled, why do they show such an inability to anticipate resentment and resistance? Or is that, as I more suspect, sheer intransigence?

They water down the party’s principles, against a ignorant but ruthless opposition, and then they wonder how this ends up. Also mediating the primary contests, through the most obvious Democratic hacks, also genius.

The GOP needs to get back to their conservative roots and conservatives need to stop nominating morons like Aiken and Angle. And damn all of u cons that sat the election out and gave us the nightmare that is the Obama presidency.

Jack_Burton on January 13, 2013 at 1:32 PM

Aiken lost by 10 points – he could have won if the RNSC had supported his campaign – but immediately after he made his remarks – every single GOP establishment type jumped on him and killed his chances.

Snottie Brown lost to a fake Indian by an equal amount and he GOT LOTS of money and support from the GOP establishment.

So don’t tell me that Aiken was all that bad of a candidate. Yeah – he screwed up but it could have been turned around had the GOP Ayatollahs not crossed the isle and joined the LSM in demonizing Aiken.

The GOP leadership attacked those of the TEA Parties candidates that they recognized as the weakest candidates, those candidates lost not because they were crazies or goofballs that were unelectable, but because the GOP Leadership was willing to sacrifice GOP wins to retain control of the GOP.

Precisely. For the GOP elites their primary struggle is with the base of their own party. But this really isn’t a GOP problem. Rather, this is the expression within the GOP of a more general struggle between elite opinion and a rising consciousness among a set of alienated and enraged demographic segments.

If these people are so skilled, what the heck were they thinking in pushing Charlie Crist, who is the slimiest opportunist you’ll ever meet? And finally, if these people are so skilled, why do they show such an inability to anticipate resentment and resistance? Or is that, as I more suspect, sheer intransigence?

If the voters are unhappy with an incumbent, fine. Don’t just fight them by backing the incumbent with unlimited money and then act sullen toward the challenger if they win. The better course is to get to work vetting the potential choices being put forth by the grass roots, pointing out lethal flaws if they exist and helping them identify challengers who are both ideologically palatable to the base and electable in the general race.

That would be the better course, but the establishment is too stupid to take it. That’s why they’re incessantly pushing for amnesty, for the GOP to abandon social issues, and to say only nice things about the Democrats’ nominee during presidential elections.

It means not simply tamping down the impulse to keep fighting to the death for the status quo, but also demonstrating the strength to stand up to activists who are making untenable choices and saying, “Look, we hear you. But that’s not going to work. Let’s find someone who will.”

Or is that just crazy talk?

It’s crazy talk when the establishment also says that certain people (e.g. Rubio, Toomey) are “unelectable” who do go on to win, while endlessly pushing people as “electable” (e.g. McMahon, Romney) who lose. It suggests that perhaps the establishment’s judgment isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and that if they don’t have a particularly good sense of reality, then we might as well go with the candidates that we like. We’re sick of their arrogance, we’re sick of their treachery, we’re sick of their false dichotomies, and we’re sick of them.

This illustrates why the establishment Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same coin. When the Repubs controlled both houses they spent like drunken Democrats. Career politicians simply want to stay at the money trough even though they, themselves are emptying it at a record pace, they cannot pull away. Term limits would go a long way to fix this – which is why they will never vote for them.

ghostwalker1 on January 13, 2013 at 1:28 PM

Then we must find a way to impose them. Scandal, targeted campaigns, whatever it takes. A national org a la Club for Growth’s efforts to weigh in against long term incumbents.

I think Buckley’s rule, support the most electable conservative, not just the most conservative, is the one to follow.

Wethal on January 13, 2013 at 12:51 PM

Then why did you cite Codevilla?

If you believe that column is true, than the Buckley Rule should not apply, and only the Limbaugh Rule applies – pick the most conservative, and damn the consequences. Because if you’re going to replace the ruling class with the country class, you can’t go in the mushy middle.

No. The truth is that Codevilla’s article is junk. The politicians of this country are arrogant, wealthy elitists because only someone arrogant would want to run for office, only someone wealthy can afford it, and only someone elite can survive in the liberal hellhole that is the Greater Washington Metro Area.

Personally, I think Rasmussen’s point is wrong. And, quite frankly, if they were the faction of the party that fielded two candidates who tarred the whole party by shooting their mouths off about rape, and lost five winnable Senate seats in two cycles, everyone here would be calling for their blood. But no. They’re True Conservatives, and it’s always someone else’s fault.

The only “primary problems” Republicans have are the Democrat Super Delegates, and ‘open primaries’.

Abolish those, and the Republican “primary problem” solves itself.

listens2glenn on January 13, 2013 at 1:35 PM

…THERE YOU GO! ^ ^ ^ ^

…and I THINK I just left a skid mark in my shorts!…I’m agreeing with the foriegn car fool!

Aiken lost by 10 points – he could have won if the RNSC had supported his campaign – but immediately after he made his remarks – every single GOP establishment type jumped on him and killed his chances.

Snottie Brown lost to a fake Indian by an equal amount and he GOT LOTS of money and support from the GOP establishment.

So don’t tell me that Aiken was all that bad of a candidate. Yeah – he screwed up but it could have been turned around had the GOP Ayatollahs not crossed the isle and joined the LSM in demonizing Aiken.

Without campaigning using Conservative values and talk, the elite Pubs wouldn’t win elections. There is no demonstrable difference between the parties when they get to Washington. Arlen Specter voted like a RINO every time for the first five years of any new term. Then, the last year, be campaigned with the sound of a conservative.

The elites don’t want conservatives in their party. Tea Party people were removed from committee posts by Boehner, and this new thing shows how little we are now welcome. The RNC will withhold funds from a candidate it doesn’t like, which is okay if the candidate comes across like a David Duke type and with the baggage of former membership in the Klan (Dems can get away with having Byrd and people like him all they like with MSM help).

The Pub elites have been liars and phonies a long time. As a law-abiding American citizen, I deserve honest representation. If one party won’t do it–and now two of them–then my vote goes elsewhere.

It is very simple. If you want to challenge the incumbent in a primary bring someone who does not f*** it up in the general elections by saying something very stupid or by having a f***ed up history and character… Between 2010 and 2012 we lost at least 10 assured Senate seat because the Republican senate candidate was very flawed…

The Pub elites have been liars and phonies a long time. As a law-abiding American citizen, I deserve honest representation. If one party won’t do it–and now two of them–then my vote goes elsewhere.

Agreed. The good news is that a whole new cohort of conservative GOP leaders is developing at the state and GOP house levels. They pursuing right to work legislation, and slashing taxes at the state level, and courageously opposing Boehner and the party at the expense of opportunities to join choice committees or receive party funding for their campaigns at the House GOP level.

To support these people even as they work to oppose and even liquidate the GOP leadership appears to the 2 pronged strategy of the club-for-growthers and the more forward thinking Tea Party formations.

It’s a long hard slog but it took us generations to get into this mess.

Actually Codevilla is still remarkably idealistic, having been in Naval Intelligence, the CIA, a Congressional staffer, and a university lecturer, Explain how we lost to ‘the faux marine’ Blumenthal, the clueless Banshee from California, had virtually no candidate to speak of in NY against Schumer

It is very simple. If you want to challenge the incumbent in a primary bring someone who does not f*** it up in the general elections by saying something very stupid or by having a f***ed up history and character… Between 2010 and 2012 we lost at least 10 assured Senate seat because the Republican senate candidate was very flawed…

mnjg on January 13, 2013 at 1:52 PM

Which is different than the establishment picks who lost… how? We should let the establishment pick sh1tty candidates, because… they’re the establishment and smarter than everyone else, hmm?

First, because they liked Lugar and the way he worked. Second, because the replacement candidate was flawed and allowed Democrats to win what should have been a safe Republican seat.

Although it’s possible we lose more initially by replacing these disgraceful senators like Lugar with conservative candidates, the Democrat will be vulnerable against the conservative candidate the next time so you get a conservative senator quicker than you would by keeping Lugar in there. Also, a blue dog Democrat is much less damaging to the Republican Party and conservatism than a rino. The blue dog makes Republican issues appear “bipartisan”, which is something that is valued, I guess. The rino makes the left’s issues “bipartisan”, and that is what caused the split to begin with.

Jesus Christ once stated a simple fact, a house divided against itself cannot long stand.

Jehu Christo also chased the money-changers out of the temple, and he knew when a house had to burn down as when said that not one stone would stand upon another. Creative destruction is what we would have called it in our era (apologies to Schumpeter).

No one would have been able to save Todd Aiken after the rape/abortion comment… The same goes for this idiot Murdoch… These two morons did not only lose their seat but they caused other assured Senate races to be lost in 2012… In fact I am now certain that they have contributed a lot to Romney defeat in the swing states… The Obama campaign and the democrats used them to make their comments a national campaign and greatly energized the abortionist crowds all over the country…

To support these people even as they work to oppose and even liquidate the GOP leadership appears to the 2 pronged strategy of the club-for-growthers and the more forward thinking Tea Party formations.

It’s a long hard slog but it took us generations to get into this mess.

casuist on January 13, 2013 at 1:55 PM

Since 2008, I only contribute DIRECTLY to conservative candidates.

It’s more than time to “Starve the Beast” that is the GOP establishment.

While a rising red tide of grassroots enthusiasm for a new face is not only useful, but vital to a big win, the excitable hoi polloi are also frequently lacking in the ability to sort the wheat from the chaff.

He is absolutely right… You cannot just go and elect the guy or gal who screech the loudest red meat rhetoric and then goes on to f*** himself/herself and the elections by saying something very stupid or by finding out that he has a totally f***ed up history and character…

Rand Paul and Marco Rubio showed the RINOs that a conservative can win. Toomey was not the PA GOP establishment pick, but he won the primary and the general.

Wethal on January 13, 2013 at 12:41 PM

Toomey was also an experienced candidate who had been previously scrutinized and vetted. The problem isn’t the elites versus the country people, the problem is people jumping on bandwagons and then crossing their fingers and making a wish.
Just because someone claims to be Conservative or even has espoused Conservative ideals, that doesn’t make them a good candidate or a leader. As Conservatives we need to quit complaining about the so-called establishment and RINOS and get our act together. We are not organized, look at Armey and the Freedom Works debacle.
We don’t want to play by the rules, but the rules work. We need to not just throw out candidates, donate money, make a few calls, and hope for the best. We need to get down to the nitty gritty and use the system. Oh sure, it’s nice to be all holier than thou as some people are, but it doesn’t get you any where.
Why were we stuck with so many poor candidates? Because we didn’t want to do the grinding work of getting the right people into the system. It isn’t easy finding the right candidates, but it can be done. We need to be constantly active, not just a few months before an election. If a primary is coming up this year or next we need to start looking at possible candidates now. We need to be willing to put them through the wringer before we choose to back them. Why didn’t we know about these possible gaffes before they happened? Because we heard the word “Conservative” and quit listening.
I’m tired of so-called Conservative candidates that are idiots or flakes. Surely we can do better?

I am not enamoured of Eisenhower-Nixon Republicanism or its many Rockafeller successor figures. There were conservatives, there were conservative leaders, and conservative thinkers, but there was no broad-based grass-roots conservative movement until Buckly-Goldwater, which reached its zenith in the Reagan presidency. Hence I use the term “generations” as I refuse to leave our forebears blameless.

Actually Codevilla is still remarkably idealistic, having been in Naval Intelligence, the CIA, a Congressional staffer, and a university lecturer, Explain how we lost to ‘the faux marine’ Blumenthal, the clueless Banshee from California, had virtually no candidate to speak of in NY against Schumer

narciso on January 13, 2013 at 1:55 PM

We lost to the faux marine because the NRSC that year was happy ot have a “self-funding candidate” (McMahon), so they didn’t have ot raise money. Why the NRSC was short of money seemed to excape them.